


Day 016

by Josh_the_Bard



Series: A Year in Kirkwall [16]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age II
Genre: Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-16
Updated: 2020-01-16
Packaged: 2021-02-19 15:02:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 717
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22279444
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Josh_the_Bard/pseuds/Josh_the_Bard
Series: A Year in Kirkwall [16]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1589257
Kudos: 2





	Day 016

Meradith was stunned. She had expected mages to take advantage of the chaos, she had expected deaths and conflict. She had anticipated that some of the circle mages would try to escape, although non had. What she had not expected was an abomination powerful enough to kill six templars seemingly on its own. The templars under her care had been whispering for the past three years about a demon that stalked the streets at night. An abomination that ignored the efforts of templars to dispel its magic. She had lost dozens of templars to this legend over the years. Brave men and women, some with families, all with friends, all of whom Meradith had failed.

Leading the templars in Kirkwall was a challenge that would have broken a lesser woman. For three years she had watched the rise of an organized mage underground within the walls of her city. She had tried to fight it, but every time she felt like she was making real progress, the guards or the viscount or the Grand Cleric would tell her she was overstepping her bounds. As though any secular concerns or politics were more important than her holy calling. But as much as she liked to pretend otherwise, Meradith’s power was not absolute, so she had played nice. Bided her time. And watched good men an women die. All because no one else in the city understood what she had learned when she was just a girl. That magic was not a curse or a gift. It was a disease.

Magic was an affliction suffered by a small group of people. Like a plague those who were affected were a danger to all around them. True, magic itself was not contageould but even an untrained mage could kill an entire village because of nothing more than a bad dream. When a plague sweeps through the area you quainteened the victims, regardless of how they complained, or how badly their families wanted to keep them at home. To do otherwise was to sentence those closest to them to death. Most kingdoms understood this. Most rulers wanted their people protected, even if they refused to give up the advantage of having mages to fight in their wars. But in Kirkwall they coddled their mages, obsessed about whether it was right to keep them in the circle.

Nevermind that the veil was tinner here than almost anywhere else in Thedas. Nevermind that blood-mages prowled the streets at night ensnaring helpless citizens in their mind-games. Nevermind that there were demons in every corner of the city and only the very diligent efforts of the templars and, admittedly, Hawke, kept the monsters from overwhelming the city.

Hawke.

There was a great conundrum. He had been living in the city for years as an apostate, even attaining a title and amassing a fortune. In those years no one could doubt that he had fought to protect the citizens of the city from threats both mundane and magical. He had even slaine the Arishok with his own hand. There was no doubt that he was worthy of the title ‘Champion.’ But what message would it send to have an apostate allowed to live so openly. Undoubtedly it would inspire others to reach for what he had, to try and prove themselves worthy of freedom. Many would fail, and kill countless others through their failings. Yet Meradith knew she had a long fight ahead of her. That her greatest obstacle was the people of Kirkwall, not the apostates. Perhaps if she showed she was capable of leniency. If she could make them see that she did not hate mages, but merely valued the lives of every other man woman and child in the city more than the happiness of a few mages, maybe the people would be more receptive. 

Whatever she decided, she had more pressing matters to draw her attention. She would hunt down this legendary demon and kill it herself, thus putting an end to the mysterious disappearances of her people, at least until the next apostate tried to oppose her by sundering the veil.

She called for Knight Captain Cullen, he was one who knew all too well the dangers of uncontrolled magic. Together, they would devise a plan of dealing with this menice.


End file.
